Terrible Games
by 2jiin
Summary: Clarys was not prepared to fight for her life. Soon, it will have to be ended.
1. The Beast

AN: For my wonderful friend Ellii101 & my delightful sister Snibbah

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><p>Clarys Donohue awoke with a start. She stood, breathing rapidly, trying to find the source of whatever had woken her. Her stomach clenched painfully. The dark-haired District 7 girl had not eaten for 3 and a half days, because she had no weapons or traps.<p>

Clarys turned to see where she had stopped for rest. A small cave, quite out of sight, with a shallow pool of water at her feet. The black night sky made it impossible to see how deep it went. She crouched down to drink from the pool, having tested it earlier for dangers, and decided it best for her to move on. As she stood straight, her eye caught something in the darkness of the cave. Suddenly, it seemed a lot less safe. A small shine of light, the kind that reflects from a cats eye at night. The kind that revealed that Clarys Donohue was not alone.

_BANG  
><em>Her heart leapt from her chest and she nearly yelled in shock. A cannon that signalled another Tribute was dead.

_BANG  
><em>And another, so soon after the first. _Maybe there had been an attack_, she thought, _that was probably what woke me.  
><em>But the light in the cave meant she could not rest, relax or move a single muscle. It could be the end of her.

Scared, hungry and very unsure of what to do, Clarys watched and waited for something to happen. For one of them to break.  
>The single gleam was joined by another. They began to move. Toward her.<p>

She was shaking and her feet guided her backward. She didn't like the feeling of having her back defenselessly to the deadly forest. But Clarys almost laughed at the idea of turning around. Then, three things happened at once.

_BANG  
><em>A cannon went off.

"Ow!"  
>Clarys cried out in pain.<p>

"Grrrr!"  
>The lights made eyes, which made a figure, which leapt from the shadows.<p>

The strange, vicious animal attacked Clarys, sinking its teeth into her foot, tearing through her shoes, reaching skin. She stumbled backwards and almost fell to the ground. Her panicked, shaky hands grasped out for a small rock, or stick, or anything that would kill the horrible creature that was destroying her left foot.

Finally, she gripped a large stone and didn't hesitate to drop it down at where the blinding pain was coming from. Never had she experienced such a pain.

The last strangled snarl left the beast and Clarys ripped her bloody foot from the corpse's claw.

Hot tears of pain rolled down the Tribute's cheeks and she used all her remaining strength not to scream. Blood dripped, covering the stones below her and she rushed to sit before unconsciousness could claim her.  
>Her head was dizzy, her foot was blazing and the creature's remains were a terrifying sight.<p>

_BANG_

First, she slipped off her soaked shoes and shoved her foot into the cave's shallow pool, in an attempt to stop the hurting. When that didn't work, she had no choice but to look at it.

Afraid of the sight that might await her, Clarys closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing. A panic attack like that, was not something else she needed right now.  
>She opened her eyes, and risked a glance at her left foot.<p>

But once she had glanced, she couldn't bring her eyes away.

From just above her ankle and below there was a red lump of flesh. Before she could properly determine where the wound was, more tears obscured her vision. She couldn't remember ever hurting like this, such burning and bleeding. Clarys quickly rubbed her tears away and washed some more of the blood off. It still wasn't very clear where the worst bite had hit, it seemed that the entire foot was just torn up mercilessly.

The water made each scratch sting, and each bite burn, but it took care of all the blood. Now, it appeared that the biggest, initial bite marks were near her big toe, and then everywhere that the damned thing could reach. Which, very luckily for Clarys, was just her foot and ankle.

She eyed the dead animal. It was like a big black cat-dog, with huge teeth, deadly claws and an aggressive nature. Nothing she had ever seen before.

_Probably a creation of the Gamemakers,_ she thought.

_BANG_

But for now, the girl had much more pressing matters. All she could think of doing, was using leaves or ripped clothing to bandage her mangled foot. So, she limped pathetically to a nearby bush to grab some large leaves to cover most of her wounds. She then tore up the remains of her shoe and use that as well.

A wave of drowsiness and nausea hit her, accompanied by a pang of hunger. The original, extreme pain had dulled into a sickening ache. It was like her body couldn't keep up with all the hurting the Games were causing her. Clarys turned to the spot she was sleeping in before, ignoring any previous plans of moving ahead or finding food. She could never walk longer than 5 minutes in this condition.

As she lay on the rocks, the shallow water softening her pains slightly, she contemplated her options in life.

Winning the Games was a near-impossible feat, but the rewards were too tempting to give up.  
>Although, giving up sounded quite peaceful to her. Like sleeping without waking up.<br>But what of her family? Would they rather she suffered to gain the prize? Or would they let her lie where she was forever.

_BANG_

Just as her eyes drooped shut, and her body relaxed, her thoughts came slowly to a standstill. Sleep was within her grasp as a tiny, whisper of a thought popped into her head. Something she could not worry about or mull over any longer, as her dreams had already began.

Why were the cannons signalling death so very often?

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><p>AN: Thanks for reading! Please review! I have another chapter in mind which I'll probably write tomorrow or something. But now, I'm tired! Night, night!<p> 


	2. The Race

_BANG_

She ran, faster and faster, away from the enemies she knew were approaching from the depths of the 23rd Hunger Games arena.  
>Clarys Donohue did her best to ignore the horrible pain in her foot as she sped through the forest. Unfortunately, it was not that simple.<p>

Tears spilled on to her cheeks, terror and pain fuelling her racing heart. Clarys tried not to remember that these could be the last beats she felt. There was someone in the Games, killing off Tributes as if they were annoying flies. The cannons sound was frequent enough to point this out. Clarys didn't know who it was, or how they killed so swiftly, but she knew she was next.

Suddenly, her panicked sprint skidded to a halt. There was a dead end. The chances of finding an end like this, was close to impossible. The boulders shaping the edge of the landscape had no caves to hide in, no footing to climb on. This was the arenas edge.

_No, no, no! Not now! I'm not ready! _Dizziness rattled Clarys' mind. Her foot was losing blood, and the hysteria was slowly getting to her.

A feeling of imminent death sank her heart as she paused. Was it worth it to delay her fate? Before she had time to contemplate, a small, insignifigant sound plagued Clarys' ears like a disease. There was nothing, right now, more terrifying.

Without hesitation, her partially-marred feet took her away again; in no clear direction, to no certain location. Just as far away from there as possible. That sound meant nothing less than Death's voice, calling her. The sky was too clear for her to die today. Nameless forebodings crept upon her as she bolted beside the rocky prison walls. She tried to resist them, push them away, yet they came at her relentlessly.

Neither agility or speed was one of the District Seven girl's strong skills. She was sure, that had she began to escape any second later than she did, her murderer would have already claimed her life.  
>Although, since she grew up in the shadow of the Hunger Games, death was a subject that was attached to everyday life. Clarys always imagined that she would die safe. Maybe in her home by the mill, a nameless face and an honest worker. Never as a Tribute, representing a pawn on a chess board, to be pushed around by the powerful, for entertainment.<p>

A fearful, shudder-inducing scream pierced the silence in the almost tranquil forest. Clarys tripped and fell, alarming the birds nearby. The pain in her foot and elbow was unbearable.

But she had no wish for her last thoughts to be on such a grim subject. Instead, she thought of her brothers. Jon, Alexander and Lucas. She thought of her mother, father and favourite cousin, Adelaide. She thought of her best friends, Cathryn and Hazel. She thought of her boyfriend, Sean. Clarys thought of her pet dog, Lupe. Such a happy dog, full of life and energy.

But the same, unfortunately, could not be said for Clarys Donohue. A poisoned arrow shot her in the neck. The assasin took no second glance. The lethal toxins grasped her heart, a brought it to a standstill.

This was just another cannon-shot, a dismissed demise of just another Tribute. At least, there was a meager consolation. At least a peaceful smile ghosted on Clarys' face, as her spirit slept, heavy with finality.

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><p>AN: Thank you for reading, please review!

The phrase, "Nameless forebodings crept upon her as she bolted beside the rocky prison walls. She tried to resist them, push them away, yet they came at her relentlessly," is indirectly from Harry Potter, book 7, chapter 14.


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